Nifskope: NiStringExtraData guide

This guide is written based off experience, observations, and years of tinkering.
(applies to Oblivion, FO3, and FNV).

From what has been observed, NiStringExtraData serves three purposes:

An override to things that are normally default values, or hidden values.

Making sure specific meta data is 'read first' upon loading.

Nothing more than leftover data from Bethesda/Obsidian upon export.

so, to elaborate on these :

1: override

You can override just about any value, in any way. And sometimes in very useful way. In fact, you can make simple armors simply by using NiString data to tell the Nif that a specific node -is in fact, an instance of another node- Here's a fun example : http://imgbox.com/g/gfuAumq03W Follow this link and click through the pictures. In mere minutes, a fully-functioning armor can be made, sans the need for skinning, rigging, BLENDER, 3dsMax, export settings, ect. The NiStringExtraData here basically forced the parent node to 'be a clone' of the Bone Node named "Spine01" Want a fireball over your shoulder? An ax in your back? A squashed bullet in your forehead? How about a flower or mushroom growing from your head?

Let's move on to other override examples:

*NOTE* headers marked in red are ones to pay attention to, as you will likely use these, whereas green ones are generally more advanced and thus unused by the general populous.